Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Ioagoa I hadn't considered that the inter plate didn't show what I thought was a doubling of the frame line. You probably saw the 63R1i on the platting site has that entire area trimmed… that played into my "assumption"… bad science.
I will follow up tomorrow.
Thanks

I'm sorry I've created a boondoggle out of this. Also sorry I don't have a scanner so this image probably wont clear things up.

I did pull the stamp off the page and out of its mount which allowed me to be reminded that a previous owner had platted this as 63R1e.

Hi StampCrow--

You did not create any "boondoggle" whatsoever -- so please do not give that a second thought.

FYI -- that 63R1E plate mark is unmistakably in Dr. Chase's handwriting. That doesn't mean that your stamp is ex-Chase -- as he plated stamps for many other owners -- but it does mean that your stamp is "Chase plated".

I don't have time right now to look at your stamp any closer -- and given the image quality, the best I can probably do is confirm the position, but not the state of the plate. I will try and take a quick look at it later this evening or early tomorrow.

Regards // ioagoa

Hi StampCrow --

I took a look at your Chase plated 63R1E -- and can confirm the position as 63R1 -- but the image quality is not sufficient for determining the state of the plate as either Early or Intermediate

That said -- in the process, I revisited the Lund copy of 63R1E as currently slotted on stampplating.com -- and I am now second guessing if the Lund stamp is possibly a very early printing impression from the Intermediate state of the plate -- not because of the double LFL lines you noted -- but because after careful study, the stamp exhibits characteristics of both Early and Intermediate states of the plate.

The most compelling feature for Early state is the strength of the short recut at the upper end of the LIL -- which was significantly weakened upon re-entry when plate 1E became plate 1i. Another feature is the 1 line in the ULT -- and although a bit hard to tell due to the placement of the cancel -- from what I can see, the 1 line recut in the ULT looks too strong for the Intermediate state of the plate. On the basis of these two characteristics -- the stamp screams "Early" state of the plate.

The above notwithstanding -- against my confirmed reference copies -- the TFL looks too weak for Early state -- and the LFL -- although generally crisp like an Early state stamp -- looks a bit thick for Early state -- as if it got pressed out upon re-entry. Likewise, the outer dots in the ULR opposite the hypotenuse of the ULT are too fat for Early state. BUT -- the stamp is also a bit over-inked which could be distorting all of these things to some degree.

Bottom line -- the stamp is clearly a very early printing impression from either 1E or 1i -- but exhibits characteristics of both?

I have sent correspondence to a couple of guys in my plating group to see what they think -- both by way of what might have caused the "one-off" doubling anomaly (or slip) at the upper portion of the LFL -- and also for opinion as to the state of the plate -- and if we can find something to tip the scale one way or the other, I will post a follow-up.

Regards // ioagoa

Greetings all. Here is a #11 I plated to 51R6. Nice Margins with the guide dot from 41R6. Interesting color/impression variation between top and bottom half of the stamp. Would this be an example of uneven plate wiping prior to printing?


Regards
Harper1249

Hi Harper --

On the surface your 51R6 does look to be an example of uneven wiping of the plate prior to printing.

In my experience -- These types of printing varieties are most often seen coming from positions at the edges of the sheet -- whereas 51R6 would be just about dead center of the plate. Still, they can occur anywhere -- as the final wipe of the plate was supposedly done with the bare hand of the pressman.

Here is an example of an unevenly wiped plate -- this being a block of 85-86 // 95-96R3 -- and with the lower half of 95-96R3 being wiped to clean.

Regards / ioagoa


PS -- Thanks again to Don for hosting this oversized image and enabling me to post it here on SCF!


Sc # 11A -- 85-86 // 95-96R3

I recently acquired an ad cover with an 1851 3-cent stamp with a manuscript cancel. The cover was sent in June 1856 based on the date written in the lower-left.

I tried my hand at plating the stamp, and I think it is 79R7. Appreciate knowing whether that is correct, and if not, what plate it comes from. I'm looking to learn!

Thanks.

Hi Capthickey --

Regarding your "tentative 79R7" -- a couple of comments:

-- The scan quality is not of high enough resolution to be fully suitable for plating. If there is any way you could rescan at 1200dpi (just the stamp) it would be helpful. (Side bar note -- If your scan exceeds the SCF 300kb limit -- Don has a standing offer to assist with posting the image.)

-- Despite the scan quality -- based on what I can see, I do not think that your stamp is 79R7 -- as the white spacing between the LFL and the design is much narrower than seen on 79R7. There are also subtle differences in the bends and curves of both the LFL and RFL.

-- Your stamp is definitely an A relief -- and based on the strength of the FL's is most likely from either plates 6 or 7 (i.e., as the BFL appears too weak for plates 4 or 8 -- but, then again, a higher resolution scan would be helpful).

-- If you are new to plating -- please be aware that A relief stamps from plates 6 and 7 are among some of the most challenging to plate -- and your stamp is essentially a 3 margin copy (as the TFL is seriously cut in) -- which adds to the challenge.

Regards // ioagoa

Thanks ioagoa for the insights. I'll upload a higher quality scan.

Thanks,
Capt. Hickey

I hope this comes across as a better quality scan of the 3-cent imperforate I'm trying to plate. See my post of 12/6/23 at 7:01 pm for the cover on which this stamp is affixed. The cover was mailed June 1856.

Thanks.

Hi Capt. Hickey --

Thank you for posting a better scan of your Scott #11 with the black "4 stroke" manuscript cancel.

Between Classic Coins and me we have plated your stamp -- initially based on what we can see (including that small portion of the LFL of the adjoining stamp at right) -- with further confirmation by methodically eliminating all other possibilities.

With the benefit of your most recent scan -- I can now say definitively that your stamp is an A relief from plates 6 / 7 -- (but it is not position 79R7).

If you want to try plating it yourself -- I can readily confirm the position for you -- or, if you prefer, I can reveal the position.

Regards // ioagoa

Ioagoa, the suspense is killing me! Please reveal the answer, and I'll work backwards from there.

Thanks a million!

Hi Capt. Hickey --

Your stamp is position 73R7.

In the process, the Lund stamp on Stampplating.com was also confirmed as being correctly plated.

Regards // ioagoa

Thanks ioagoa! I wasn't too far off. I'll work on making the correct plating.

All the best to you.

I had some trouble with this one, but I think that I got it figured out.

81R1E

I am curious about the thoughts of the experts here.

The Chase and Lund images aren't the greatest, so I included (3) copies that I have plates as 81R1E and one copy that I have plated as 81R1i for comparisons.

Disclaimer - There is no guarentee that these are plated correctly.

Example #2, with the 4 Bar Experimental NEW YORK cancel appears to have been plated by Chase. The other 2 examples have a position marking that I do not recognize the penmanship on.

The last image of this post, was plated by DSW (whose name escapes me at the moment - & I am blaming the recent covid bout for the memory loss and not old age) as 81R1i.

The patient that I was plating here appeared to have 2 guide dots in the lower right, but no such animal exists.

The new patient:


My three examples of 81R1E -

First Example:


Second Example - Appears to be plated by Dr. Chase:


Third Example:


And finally, the only example that I have of 81R1i, plated by DSW:


Sorry that I haven't been very active here. That covid bout ended in a little heart attack and I got behind at work. That's my excuse anyway.